Friday Vocabulary

1. rebarbative — repellent, annoying, unattractive

I was confronted at the front desk by a rebarbative adolescent, if I can be excused the tautology, who claimed the right to review my credentials before passing me on to the vice principal.

  2. compurgator — witness to an accused person’s innocence or truthfulness

From the Old English system of compurgators arose some elements of our modern jury system.

  3. mangonel — old war engine for hurling large stones

Our ponderous catapults could not maintain the quick rate of fire that the mangonels of the enemy used to their great advantage.

  4. apotelesm — the casting of a horoscope

Before his appointment as privy secretary he was required to submit his date of birth so that the court astrologer could provide the results of his apotelesm to the duke.

  5. gallows tree — metal support to hold pot over kitchen fire

The big bad wolf found himself impaled upon the gallows tree when he entered the third little pig’s house through the brick chimney, which saved him from falling into the boiling water, but which burned his nether regions as it tore his groin.

  6. merryandrew — buffoon, clown; assistant to a mountebank

Everybody plays the merryandrew sometimes, as the old song says.

  7. quacksalver — imposter to the medical art

Surprisingly, the products of this quacksalver seemed to bring temporary relief to many sufferers, although this might have been due to the high alcohol content.

  8. raree show — peep show; spectacle

The clickworthy ‘news’ apps have become the modern raree show, encouraging thousands to stare listlessly into their phones just as passerby in past times were lured into staring into the traveling barker’s box in search of the demonstrations of minuscule (and perhaps imaginary) circus fleas.

  9. algesia — sensitivity to pain

Though one might think that we suffer due to our algesia, people who are born without this sensitivity usually die in childhood due to their inability to correctly identify and react to physical hazards.

  10. prognathous — having protruding jaws

His profile seemed so prognathous that I doubted my spare motorcycle helmet would fit him.